The Cosmic Watchdog

Martin Lewis has issued an “urgent warning” to state pensioners, pushing them to claim their Winter Fuel Payment before the rapidly approaching deadline.

The Money Saving Expert founder urged his ITV1 viewers that the final date to claim Pension Credit and consequently grab your £200 to £300 Winter Fuel Payment is set to pass on December 21, less than two weeks away.

Anyone missing that deadline will not be able to get their Winter Fuel Payment this winter, Martin warned, as he urged everyone to spread the word to help more of the 700,000 pensioners who are eligible to get the payment to put their claim in before it’s too late.

Pension Credit is worth £4,000 a year extra on average, while the Winter Fuel Payment is paid up to £300 depending on your age, for a total of £4,300, with the Pension Credit payments spread out across the 12 months following your claim.

Speaking on the latest instalment of The Martin Lewis Money Show Live on ITV1 and catchup service ITVX, Martin said: “This is an urgent warning about the Winter Fuel Payment deadline. For the first time, this winter, Winter Fuel Payments for state pensioners are means tested.

“The payment is £200, £300 if you’re older. To get Winter Fuel Payment you now need to claim and get Pension Credit. There are other ways but they’re gone for this year. This is the only one left.

“The deadline to apply is two weeks away, a little less than two weeks away.

“But you must have been eligible three months ago because this is effectively a backdated claim.

“So, who? Well if you’re a single state pensioner and you’ve got total income under £218 a week, you’re very likely to get it. If you’ve got income under £235 a week, you may get it. If you get Attendance Allowance that can be up to £300.

“Similar, for a couple who are both state pension age, under £333 a week total income likely to get, under £350 a week may get.

“When I say may get, I mean still try… and if you get Attendance Allowance again, the amount can be far higher.”

Martin Lewis says “income” is counted from various sources, including money from your state pension, money from your private pension, money from benefits, and savings over £10,000.

He continued: “Savings under £10,000? Don’t count.

“Savings over £10,000, for each £500 over that you have, counts as £1 a week income.

“It’s complicated, if you don’t understand, if you’re not quite sure, but you’re on a lower income pensioner, don’t stall, just call.”

The deadline to apply is December 21, so if you miss that, you definitely won’t be able to get the Winter Fuel Payment this winter as applications made for Pension Credit after that date will not backdate your claim to the qualifying week.

Martin added that Pension Credit is also a “gateway benefit” to various other handouts such as Council Tax reductions, TV Licence reductions, help with water and energy bulls and even eyecare discounts.

The Money Saving Expert founder then called on people to spread the word to make sure that the estimated 700,000 pensioners who are on a low enough income to qualify for Pension Credit and the Winter Fuel Payment but who haven’t claimed do make a claim before it’s too late.

He added: “But we can at least do one thing, which is make sure that collectively, together, all of us talk to any low income pensioner we know and say ‘you might need to call the Pension Credit hotline just to see if you’re eligible’.”